How the hell is this 8.5?!

I'll be honest I haven't seen the film since it was in cinemas which was 10 years ago now, so I can't really remember all these little details and I'm certainly not gonna watch the film again any time soon.

I almost stopped reading there. Why would you care about the imdb rating of a movie you saw 10 years ago and are unwilling to watch again, despite starting a discussion about it on a forum...?

(I didn't mean to sound rude, and that's why I kept reading. And after reading your entire post, I had to come back and mention I understand your frustration, but keep in mind that it's probably not the same people who gave a 10 to The Departed, who also gave a 7 to Clockwork Orange or whatever other "classic masterpiece". I mean, Adam Sandler is still releasing a carbon copy of the same exact movie every year, and has been doing so for the last 2 decades and movie-goers are still asking for more, apparently...)

So we'll just say you win on that one.

In my eyes, the purpose of a discussion is to exchange ideas and points of view with other people, not to "win" anything. We both win if we both learn something and we both lose if we don't, as far as I'm concerned.

I don't know your level of cinematic awareness

My mom owned a video-rental store when I was a kid, I pretty much saw every movie released since 1990 and most "classics" released before that, anyhow, it is irrelevant and I didn't think your comment was patronizing, it simply explained where you're from and why you think how you think, which is very helpful in the context of such a discussion, in my opinion.

Citizen Kane is rated at 8.4. That's a decimal less than The Departed. The Departed is also rated higher than many other films that are considered to be classic masterpieces.

I get your point, but never forget that this is imdb, where (anonymous) users decide on a movie's rating. I don't even trust most movie critics, so there's no way I'm ever "trusting" an imdb rating.

That said, and at the risk of stating the obvious, "old" classics like Citizen Kane or Gone With The Wind or Casablanca might not have been watched by the younger generations and even those who watched them might not get their importance in the history of cinema.

For example, I own the entire collection of Mario Bava's works and while I was watching Bay of Blood with a friend, his GF and her friend, the latter kept making comments about how it was bad and couldn't compare with modern slashers. She was right from her point of view, but anyone who understands that Bay of Blood is the movie that literally created the slasher genre understands its significance and importance in cinematic history.

ie.: One can't expect the general imdb "population" to analyze every movie in such depth before giving it a rating.

24% of people who voted gave it 10 out of 10. That means a quarter of people think it's an undisputed, flawless, life changing phenomenon.

Always ignore the 10s and the 0s. In fact, I'm not sure why imdb doesn't just do that when calculating averages, it would probably make ratings more reliable, but even then, I still wouldn't trust them. In fact, if you look at the ratings I gave with this account, you'll see exactly why you shouldn't trust imdb ratings. Please don't judge me..., those ratings are obviously not serious.

Now answer me honestly, I can see you like the film and there's nothing wrong with that, but do you consider it to be a faultless masterpiece?

First thing first, I like pretty much every movie, I'm the kind of guy who'll find something positive to say about just about anything...

That said, and to answer your question, certainly not. It is a great movie, but that's to be expected from Scorcese and the actors starring in it. It still won a few Oscars, so while not a masterpiece by any means (imho), it still was among the best movies released that year. Chances are that helped its imdb rating, too, with everything being relative and all.

You also inadvertently bring up the point that you know the difference between a 8, a 9 and a 10... Most people probably don't. In fact, I think a lot of people vote either "10" for movies they liked or "0" for movies they didn't like.

Do you think it's a more accomplished film than the likes of Taxi Driver, 2001 or A Clockwork Orange? Does it push the medium forward? Does it explore any themes in a new and interesting way?

Nope. But then again, I re-watched it the day before I commented (it's why I decided to look it up in the first place) and the last movie of that "genre" I saw was Besson's "The Family". Let's just say that The Departed looks like a 10, after watching The Family.

Then again, I watched another movie about Whitey Bulger (Black Mass) last year and while I liked it better than The Departed, I wouldn't call it a better movie, either. In the end, the whole "undercover cop/mafioso" trope has been overdone...

In any case, Donnie Brasco and Goodfellas are the best (from Hollywood) in that genre.

But as DanMeetsFan said above, I shouldn't take imdb movie scores too literally. And he's right. I'm just explaining my reasoning behind my original post. I realize now I shouldn't take it to heart.

Exactly. I didn't read his comment yet, or the rest of yours, I'm replying to the parts I quote as I read them, but that's pretty much my take on this. For example, The Postman and Waterworld are among my favorite movies ever, mostly because I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic dystopias, yet both movies were panned by critics and moviegoers alike, so in the end, it's what I like that matters, not what other people like. Ratings and critics are irrelevant, unless they come from someone I know appreciates movies like I do, or the same movies I do. For instance, I'm no fanboy, but if Tarantino says a movie is worth being seen, chances are I'll see it.

I know The Departed is gonna be a more popular film in the western world. I was commenting that no-one seemed to be even mentioning Infernal Affairs. They seemed oblivious to it's existence.

Well, I was oblivious to it, until I read your comment, and now I'll try and watch it this weekend, if I can find some free time. And considering what I mentioned earlier about me watching a lot of movies (including a lot of "foreign" movies, mostly French, Italian and Japanese), I wouldn't expect your "regular" viewer to have seen or heard about it, either.

Like they thought The Departed was an original work.

Sadly, I did. If anything, I don't like unnecessary remakes and if after watch Infernal Affairs, it changes my opinion of The Departed into the "unnecessary remake" category, it will drop from a 7.5 or 8 to a 6.5 or 7, in my book.

You'd expect that of the 24% of people who consider it to be the greatest thing that has ever graced the earth, some of them would, upon the 15th time of watching it, notice the announcement in the credits 'Based on the film Infernal Affairs.'

Well, it was my 3rd time watching it (twice the year it came out and once this week), and I had never noticed it, but I tend to skip credits when watching movies.

I'm sure if I went on the forum for The Ring I would see the Japanese original mentioned several times.

True, but that's because it was marketed as a remake, while The Departed wasn't. I mean, even Hunger Games, which was allegedly written by someone who had never heard about Battle Royale gave Battle Royale a lot of visibility, just because people would argue over Hunger Games being too similar to it. (I wrote that part before I finished reading that paragraph and saw you also mentioned them..., so I'm guessing we agree on this...)

I'll have to agree that it's very strange that no one mentioned Infernal Affairs on this board before you did, but then again, I didn't search it up to confirm that, but I'm trusting you on this.

In any case, I'll try to get back to you after I see Infernal Affairs, but I get your points and agree with pretty much everything you said.

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